Justice League United Volume 2: Doomsday
by Benjamin J Brown
Summary: AU. Sequel to Apokolips. The Joker launches an assault on Gotham at the same time as Lex Luthor finally unleashes his project Doomsday. The Justice League is without it's General as it battles the most dangerous being it has ever faced and must make unthinkable deals, while Batman must decide what is more important; Helping his Friends or Avenging his Parents Murder. I own Nothing.


Bagpipes played throughout the cemetery, playing a traditional funeral march. A crowd stretched out, filling the entire area, leaving only a three meter wide aisle to be passed through by the figures carrying the casket. In the third row back, Oliver Queen stood with Dinah Lance, both of them wearing black fully black suits.

There was a sound of a car behind them, everyone turning to see the sight as the funeral conductor stepped out, instructing the six figures who were waiting for the casket on how best to carry it.

Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and the Flash walked through the aisle slowly as they carried the casket. Of course, in reality, with the empty casket that was being used to protect the deceased's identity, even Nightwing or the Flash could have carried it alone. However, it was the symbolism that was important, as it had always been for him.

"I expected he'd be here." Oliver commented "Given whose funeral it is."

"He was probably the closest to him out of all of us." Dinah responded with a sad look on her face "It was probably too difficult for him. He told me once he doesn't like funerals."

"I can imagine." Oliver said, grimacing "I missed my old man's. And mine…"

Dinah said nothing, merely taking his hand as a sign of support as the casket passed by.

She'd known from the day the League first came together they could be killed. Hell, Hal Jordan and Carter Hall _had_ been killed in the first days of the League. That was different. The person the funeral was for and the person who was absent were collectively referred to as the World's Finest. A lot of them had thought the both of them to be somehow immortal. The funeral was a sobering reminder that they were all mortal.

That even gods among men could die.

…. 2 Weeks Earlier….

Bruce sped down the streets of Gotham. Two hours ago, Jim Gordon had contacted him and told him about reports of a heist at the Gotham Museum of Art. Early reports suggested the alarm had been evaded due to being frozen. Bruce had initially assumed Victor Fries, AKA Mr. Freeze. However, he was accounted for in his secure wing at Blackgate penitentiary. That meant it had to be someone else. So Bruce had made a call.

" _What makes you think it's Snart?"_ Barry Allen's voice came through the radio _"There are other super villains who like to freeze stuff, right?"_

"Snart's M.O. fits better than most." Bruce replied, pausing "Plus, the freezing super villains are a rather exclusive club."

" _And so are the rich playboy vigilantes."_ Barry quipped back _"I mean, there's you, Ollie, Dick… Does Jason count?"_

"I wouldn't count him _or_ Nightwing." Bruce retorted "Or Queen for that matter. He's B-list at best."

" _Stands in for you alright when you're unavailable. A sort of Batman Lite."_ Barry replied _"You sure I can't come and help?"_

Bruce paused for a moment. Barry would make for good recon. He always had in the past. However, he also liked to talk. Bruce didn't.

"I'll be fine." Bruce replied "Captain Cold is no Mr. Freeze."

He didn't wait for Barry to reply before cutting the line. He had things to do.

…...

Clark floated high above the city of Metropolis. When he wanted to think, he often came up here. Very few views beat it. Plus, he could hear _everything_ happening in the city. Like Dan Turpin, swigging from the bottle of beer in the bar after a long shift. Or Perry White, yelling for Jimmy Olsen to come and show him how to use the vape he'd just bought.

Then, of course, there was what he could see. Lex Luthor was in his penthouse, swirling a glass of single malt whilst his assistant, Mercy Graves, was… Putting on a _show._ Or Lois Lane, reading a novel in bed. He'd like to think it was the book he'd bought her for her Birthday, Sherlock Holmes, but he doubted it.

Lois didn't like Detectives.

"You come here often?" Came a voice from behind him, Diana slowly floating in front of Clark "What are you doing?"

"Admiring the view." He admitted "Weren't you meant to be at an event this evening?"

"My date stood me up." Diana pouted "Something about a man with a freeze ray."

"He likes those." Clark chuckled "Almost as much as he likes clowns."

The two of them laughed. Bruce had agreed to take Diana to a fundraiser in Central City that evening. Of course, they all knew as soon as anything that would give him an excuse to get out of a tuxedo and into a cape came up, he'd be all over it like a rash.

"What about you?" Diana asked "Didn't you tell me tonight was supposed to be Chinese food with… Lucy?"

"Lois." Clark corrected "She decided she'd rather work on a book than a story. Which coming from her sounds all wrong… Hold that thought."

Before Diana could respond, Clark sped down, until he reached Lois' balcony, touching down gently on the concrete platform. He walked towards the glass window slowly, gently tapping on the glass, laughing slightly as she half jumped out of her skin and rushed to cover herself. She got out of bed, moving to the door and opening it before folding her arms across her chest.

"I thought we were putting work off?" She asked, her tone no nonsense.

"So did I. Then I remembered _work_ is literally your favourite thing." He said, stepping inside and spinning on the spot, changing into a blue shirt and grey pants "What's going on?"

"Well, first of all, I preferred the other outfit." She pouted "Second, I have other interests."

Clark looked down at the novel cover. Autobiography of Oprah. He sighed.

"Really?" He quizzed _"Really?"_

"Read the whole cover…" She said, Clark scanning it quickly "I wrote the introduction. I like to read my own work."

"Your work always has a hundred and one spelling mistakes." Clark asked "Like when you asked me how many 'k's were in 'clan.'"

"I was writing an article on the KKK…" She replied, smirking "You were wrong, boy scout."

"I'm no boy scout." Clark replied returning the smirk.

"Oh yeah?" She asked, moving a step closer to him, beginning to unbutton his shirt, revealing the red and yellow 's' on his chest again "Prove it…"

….

Bruce and Barry finished escorting Snart to the GCPD patrol car. They shoved the man inside, Bruce handing his cold gun to Detective Bullock.

"Get it to the evidence lockup." He said _"Don't_ let them take it to Iron Heights."

"Relax, Bats." Bullock replied "Chilly there won't be going anywhere."

"Chilly?" Barry questioned "Really? Listen, over in Central City, I'd get _way_ better quips and-"

"That's enough, Flash." Bruce said, turning and beginning to move away "See you around, Harvey."

He led Barry out of earshot of Bullock, waiting until the two of them were beside the Batmobile. He turned to Barry, retracting the lenses over his eyes, revealing another part of his stern expression.

"I can handle small time crooks like Snart." Bruce said simply "If you'd been here when someone else had attacked Central City then-"

"Unless it was Eobard Thawne, I'd be back before they could do any real damage." Barry cut Bruce off, smirking "And with Thawne safely in the lockup on the Watchtower, he's not really a threat…"

"Never underestimate your opponents, Barry." Bruce said simply "I've made that mistake before, and it had consequences."

"What was that?" Barry questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"Ask Dick Grayson about his parents sometime." Bruce replied as the canopy slid shut before he sped away, leaving Barry alone.

Barry grimaced. When he was a boy, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, had gone back in time and murdered Barry's mother, framing his father for it. Barry had spent years obsessed with proving his father's innocence.

His obsession then paled in comparison to Bruce's obsession with the Joker. The man who was responsible for the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, as well as Dick Grayson's parents, and who had framed Jason Todd's father for the murder of Bruce's parents.

He sped back to Central City, arriving at the loft he used as a base of operations in around a minute. He pulled back his cowl, the armoured suit quickly disassembling into nanites and entering a ring on his left middle finger.

"Long night?" Came the voice of Jesse Chambers from the gym area, the blonde walking out wearing a tank top and leggings, sweating slightly "Sorry, I let myself in. Wanted a work out."

"It's fine." Barry replied, sighing "I've known Batman for over a decade, since he was about eighteen. He still treats me like a stranger."

"He doesn't exactly have a reputation for being one for the warm fuzzies." Jesse quipped "Hell, according to Dick, he's the antithesis of that."

"Dick now is it?" Barry teased "Do we need to have _the talk?"_

"Shut up, Barry." Jesse said with a laugh "Besides, he's got a girlfriend."

"Not since last week." Barry corrected her "He and Batgirl split up. Apparently it was amicable."

"How'd you know that?" She questioned "I can't imagine Batman's much for gossip."

"No." Barry replied "But his Butler is. And he spends hours on the phone to my wife exchanging recipes. And super hero gossip, apparently."

Jesse laughed. She didn't know who was under Batman's cowl, not officially, but knowing who Nightwing was, it wasn't rocket science. Nightwing had been the original Robin, who was the partner of Batman. Nightwing was Dick Grayson, who was the ward of Bruce Wayne. Who was one of the richest men in the world.

Of course, she'd never ask the question. He wanted to keep his cowl on, she was content to let him.

"Earth to Jesse?" Barry cut in "You alright there?"

"What?" She asked "Yeah. Sorry. So, what were we talking about?"

….

Lex sat in his office. Mercy had gone home for the evening and now he was sat with a remote in his hand. It was designed to activate his most recently completed project for testing. He'd been toying with the idea of using it for weeks. Now he was beginning to think was the time.

He pulled up the files, along with a video feed to his project's test tube. The tall figure was in a tube of clear liquid. It had jet black hair, long and slicked back, and a black bodysuit, a silver pentagon in the centre of the chest. In the middle of the pentagon was a stylised S symbol. Lex had decided to have the symbol kept. He found it funny, in an ironic way.

He'd initiated the project years ago, when Superman had first showed up. The initial prototype, project B-0, or 'Bizarro' as Lois Lane of the Daily Planet had coined it, had been released previously, prior to General Zod's incursion. A red Kryptonite fuelled Superman had hurled it into the Phantom Zone.

Ironically, probably best for the creature. Subsequent analysis of it's genome had revealed the defect that had disfigured it was a symptom of a very short half life, a week at most. By imprisoning it in the timeless phantom zone, Superman had probably saved it. Like the boy scout he was.

The scientists assured him that the new iteration of Project Doomsday suffered from no such defect. Indeed, they claimed it would be able to adapt to anything that might be able to kill it, that nothing could harm it twice. He was sceptical; the Kryptonian weakness to Kryptonite was so hardwired into their genetics that even the horrifically flawed B-0 had exhibited it.

He sighed and set the control down on his desk. Tonight was not the night. There were other stages of his plan to set into motion first.

He picked up his phone, calling the burner number he had saved. As soon as the line connected, he started speaking.

"Clown," He said "I need another favour."

… **.**

 **So, here we begin volume 2 of Justice League United. I know, I haven't exactly done much to hide what's coming, but let's face it, anyone who read the earlier fics in this continuity knew as soon as Project Doomsday was mentioned in volume one of Man of Steel what was being set up. R &R, please, no flames. B.**


End file.
